Workers oppose N3.24bn severance pay for Jonathan, others

President Goodluck Jonathan

Following the report exclusively published by The Punch over the N3.24bn severance benefits approved by the Presidency for political office holders, the Association of Senior Civil Servants of Nigeria has urged President Goodluck Jonathan to set example by rejecting the offer so that other beneficiaries could do same.

“If the President and all those that have been awarded the jumbo pay refuse to do the needful by rejecting the pay, we will be forced to conclude that we Nigerians are just working and living for our political leaders and this will be too bad. If the Presidency was not privy to this scandalous severance benefits, it must publicly distance itself from the ill-advised benefits and reject the offer immediately,” the workers said in a statement on Wednesday.

The ASCSN in the statement issued in Abuja by its President, Bobboi Bala Kaigama and Secretary-General, Alade Lawal, described the allowance as “financial recklessness.”

The union expressed worry that despite public outcry against financial recklessness and sharp practices by the Federal Government, the Presidency still proceeded to approve N3.24bn as terminal benefits for political office holders whose tenures would expire on May 29.

The ASCSN said, “This is a sacrilege and unacceptable in an economy where civil servants who serve the country for 35 years or attain the age of 60 years are not paid any gratuity after service. We demand that all stakeholders in the Nigeria project stand up now and oppose this financial recklessness.”

According to the organisation, if Jonathan and other political office holders collect such whopping terminal benefits, then, “the incoming government of Muhammadu Buhari must ensure that they return the money to the public treasury.”

The union added that it was inconceivable that in a situation where civil servants contributed their meagre salary into the Contributory Pension Scheme and received no gratuity after long years of service, political office holders who served for between one and eight years and collected millions of naira monthly still awarded themselves such mouth-watering severance benefits.